Our New Dwelling!

These are some pics of our new house.  I didn't want to show outside shots for safety reasons, but we are near a busy intersection of the city, just blocks away from the castle and cathedral.  The house came fully furnished.  There are still a lot of repairs to be made to it but we feel very blessed to live here.

 

Shot of the castle taken a few weeks ago from another spot.

 

My favorite room of the house: the kitchen.  Most Italian homes for rent don't come with kitchen appliances, so we were overjoyed when we first saw it. 

 

Terrace/patio.  I would like to start trying to keep a few plants alive out here.  We'll see how that goes.

 

Refrigerator and freezer in camoflauge.

 

This is a typical fixture for Italian sinks and cabinets.  The hotel had one, too.  The underside is open, so you can put wet, clean dishes on the racks to dry.  Saves on counter space! 

 

Our living room.  *sighs* Any tips on color coordinating furniture and decorations for a PINK room would be greatly appreciated.  I do like the black and white photos of European sights as well as the AC unit in the corner.  Summers here get very hot and there is no central air conditioning.  Luckily, all the windows are big and well positioned to create cool cross breezes.

 

The wooden shutters roll up by pulling on a rope that is beside every window.  When they are closed they block out most of the outside light, so it is easy to sleep in. :)  The shutter can also be pushed out if you want more air but not the sun.  Many people hang a line in the window to dry clothes.  We may do that for a few of the windows.  We don't have a dryer.  Brett braved the attic yesterday to make a dent in all the dust bunnies. (Think Monty Python bunnies.)  There were already lines hanging up, so he cleaned those areas so we could hang clothes up there and open the attic windows to aid in the drying process.

 

None of the rooms connect with each other, just the hallway.  The family that used to live here had children and left many toys behind.

 

Random sombrero on the wall.

 

An Italian rarity: closets!  Technically, these are wardrobes, but since they were already here, I'm calling them closets.

 

The spare room was a child's room, so there is a already a playpen and kid size closets to use, whenever that day may come.

 

Both the attic and basement are huge.  Dirty and junky but huge so storing their stuff and/or ours won't be a problem.  The above picture is the basement.  We don't really know the back story on that...

 

Door/Covering to the basement.  The word for basement is "cantina." 

 

Brett's future man cave, a.k.a. the attic.  Those are wooden beams.  The guys were very impressed.

 

The laundry line before it was cleaned.  The area is still dirty, but I don't have to dodge cobwebs or worry about tripping over broken bricks and dishes.

 

The bathroom is pretty ordinary.  It has double sinks, a shower with wonderful water pressure and hot water, and a bathtub, which needs some serious scouring before any soaking will take place.  The only major difference, other than the classic bidet, is the toilet handle/button, which you have to push, but that is common here.

 

Our garage.  We moved the table and Brett parks our new '86 VW Golf in here.  It is a tight squeeze!  We basically walk sideways along the walls to get to the washer in the far left corner.

 

The washer is high efficiency.  It uses very little water and takes 2 hours and 22 minutes to wash a load.  It is a slightly smaller load and we realized today that, because of limited dryer space, we should only wash one load a day.  The wash basin beside it is interesting.  The washer drains into it, but the basin doesn't have a drain.  The water just seeps into the stone.

Tomorrow, the landlady is coming over so I can show her a few things we have questions about.  In a recent post, I said that sometimes I acted as though I understood even if I didn't.  Well, I've learned the hard way, that is NOT a good idea!  The other day, the landlady wanted us to come over to her house at a certain time.  I thought she was confirming something else that I had told her.  Later that evening, her niece who speaks English, called and said her aunt had been waiting for five hours for us to show up.  After that, I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow.  At the very least, it will be a day of charades. 

Sirmione pt. 2

Here are more pictures from the Sirmione trip a couple of weeks ago.  These are the pictures that were taken from the top.  It was the perfect day to visit! We still need to go back sometime to see the Roman ruins that are on the very end of the peninsula.  

 

Looking back at the mainland.

 

aThe green trees are on the end of the peninsula.  The roman ruins are either just on the other side or in the middle of them.

 

After we came back down from the tower, we walked down the street to the right of this cafe.  We found paninis and gelato.  The gelato stand/store was ridiculous.  There was just a big crowd in front of the shop and every time I thought I was next in line, I was wrong.  Basically, just pay close attention to the cashiers and get their attention as soon as they are finished the customer "before" you. 

Mini-Challenges Marinated in Anxiety

I had to go to Montichiari yesterday to pick up the keys for our new house.  Our landlady doesn't speak a lick of English, but I had to call her to make sure it was alright for me to come today.  I envisioned making the trip, only to wait outside an empty house all day.  We have to move most of our stuff in on Thursday. This week will be busy, so I knew yesterday was really the only chance I would have.  My stomach was in knots over the thought of speaking Italian over the phone.  I tried it the night before for something else and that was an epic fail.  Finally, I realized I just had to suck it up and call her.  Praise God that, amid the confusion, I was at least able to establish that is was okay for me to come over today.


Now on to my next challenge of the day: taking a bus.  I've ridden an orange (city) bus a couple of times and have started to understand the system.  However, I had to take one of the blue buses that go to different cities in the province of Brescia.  For days I had scoured their website, trying to make sense of the different schedules and the cryptic pricing guide.  Google Translate was invaluable throughout this process, by the way.  Finally, I thought I had figured out enough to board the big blue bus.

I did get on the correct bus, but when I asked how much it cost, he rattled off something in Italian and closed the door behind me.  I wasn't sure what was going on, so I just sat in the front seat and waited for something to happen that would make sense.  Before we made it out of Desenzano, another guy got on and didn't pay either.  He sat right behind the driver and the two of them talked the whole time.  It may as well have been Chinese.  I tried to eavesdrop but ended up just tuning them out and soaking in the Italian countryside and villages, including the John Deere tractor that stayed in front of us for most of the trip.

After the other guy got off the bus (there were only a few people), I asked the driver about the bus stop I needed to go to and the payment.  Thankfully, his last stop of the day happened to be across the street from our neighborhood, and the ride turned out to be free.  I think it was because he started in Montichiari and was just coming back.  I plan on taking the same bus on Friday so we'll see if my theory is correct.

Thankfully, I knew where I was and walked to the landlady's house.  She was out gardening and showed me into her house, which was amazing.  She did most of the talking.  I nodded my head and said "si" when I understood the gist of what she was saying.  Sometimes I did it even if I had no clue, but was tired of saying "Non capisco" (I don't understand).  She is a really nice lady.  Stereotypical older Italian lady: full of excitement and still dresses from another era. 

With a lanyard full of keys (the landlady didn't even know which ones they all were), I headed to another bus stop that would take me back to Desenzano in 10 minutes.  I did have to pay for this one (only a couple of euros) and the bus driver was not nearly as nice, but I was just glad to sit back and know that I had achieved my goals for the day.